Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Since I'm waiting for paint to dry, and watching it won't make it happen any faster, I thought I'd post a few pictures of what our small group did for us this weekend. I'm bummed I was too overwhelmed to take before pictures, but I think you'll get the idea even without them.

Painting the kitchen was by far the most intimidating item on our list. The houses that have sold (which aren't many) in our neighborhood have all had nice kitchens. We've always felt that our kitchen is an asset, but for some reason it wasn't coming across that way.

When we bought the house, the kitchen was sponge painted pink on pink. We left their baskets border up and painted the walls a pale green. Now, it's a warm tan that seems to work well with our cabinets.

This was what we really needed help with. That wall goes up really, really high!

See that? When we painted it the first time, 10 years ago, my dad said something like, "pick your color well, we're not doin' this again!"

Our friend Dave brought over this ladder along with some cool paint tools and over the course of Friday night and Saturday, the kitchen changed colors.

My dad, Dave and Michael fixed a soft spot on the floor where some water had leaked in.

Suzanne stained both sets of our front steps.

She also gave our front doors a fresh coat of paint and they now match the shutters.

We got shiny new door knobs and locks put in.

And Kristina, whose husband Peter helped do all the tedious cutting in on Friday night and Saturday morning (especially the really high parts against the ceiling and at odd angles) sent over these granola treats that were delicious!

Meanwhile, my parents kept Brenna, Daniel and Carrie overnight on Friday. Then Saturday Christine kept them for most of the day. She took them to the park, where Molly met her and together they kept track of nine little people. Christine even gave my kids baths!! With three of her own as well, that's 6 kids to bathe. Not to mention she had dinner waiting for us when we finally made it back to her house to pick up the kids at 8:30 that night.

I don't know how to describe last week other to say I literally almost lost it. It's an odd comparison but it was kind of like the last five minutes of labor with Carrie, when I had no drugs in me and I felt my eyes start to go wild. The nurse got right in my face and demanded that I look her in the eye and breathe directly onto her palm. She was kind but firm and she got me through. That's sort of what my friends did this weekend. They stepped in when they saw we were spinning out of control and they gave us back our sanity. They loved on us till it hurt, but there's a big difference between tears of relief and tears of strain and stress. They firmly took control of what they could and set us back on our feet.

We still have more work to do, particularly in the category of curb appeal. But we're well on our way and almost ready to get back in the game.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Thank you Lord for these precious friends and thank you for Your mercies which flowed from them like rain this week.